I Voted This Past Week

 Absentee......of course.  Things worked as advertised....Alabama has a pretty simple method.  

So toward the end....came ballot measures, and it got pretty crazy.  There are two odd measures listed.

First being....if you vote 'yes'....the state gives each board (of each county) the power to require the Pledge of Allegiance to start the school-day.  

The second being....if you vote 'yes'....the state gives each board (of each county) to 'sing' the National Anthem. 

I paused over both.

Probably up to the fifth grade (1960s)....my rural Alabama school had a prayer and the Pledge.  That kinda went away by the 6th grade.

If you went up to individual adults (over the age of 40)....probably two-thirds of Alabama folks would say the Pledge should be mandated.  Oddly, if you ask about NPR-listening or CNN-viewing....probably 90-percent of folks are likely anti-Pledge and anti-Anthem.

I'm mostly anti-singing (in-general).....not against the Anthem itself.  It'd be the same if you asked me to sing some Johnny Cash tune, or Achy Breaky Heart.  If someone has a voice....fine.  But the majority of folks....even at age 12....can't sing.

Where this is going to lead onto?  I think the Pledge agenda will pass (maybe 60-40)....but most school boards will simply require it cited once a week.  The Anthem business?  I don't think it will pass (45-55).

Five Observations

 1.  Part of this buy-Russian-diesel story....relates to massive negativity about US refinery operations (lessening numbers), and Russia doesn't have this problem.  

2.  Anthropic (the AI folks) have said rogue AI agents tried to gain access to US government sites.  Access?  Meaning they tried to fill out a page?

3.  My thoughts on the Fort Hood shooter execution being public?  If you meant just you could be at the site and watch....no problem.  Televised?  I'm not sure it accomplishes much of anything.  You end up with some nutcase-Muslim-guy in a wheel-chair....uttering 'Allah-Akbar' over and over....then shot dead.  To be honest....he should have been executed at least ten years ago....delaying it was crap.

4. This week....Warren Buffett gave a talk....he believes we’re living in a golden age, even if many people don’t grasp it.  Everything, from travel to food....to banking and clothing....all better than it was 150 years ago.  

Then Buffett spoke up.....that human nature makes us focus on what’s wrong, and politics often amplifies that dissatisfaction.  He has a valid point.

5.  I watch about 30 min of Caleb Hammer's podcast per week....financial wiz who takes apart people's screw-up's.  In most cases....I'd say the IQ level of folks on his podcast....are 80 to 90, and some bank or financial institution was stupid enough to loan them $100,000.  

My Talarico-Missing Theory

 I think the Texas candidate got stressed out, and some buddy/doctor....gave him some anxiety medication...which reacted a fairly negative way.  A day or two passed....getting him cleaned-up, and offered up a different medication....which went badly as well.

Hurting his campaign to 'disappear'?  Hardcore Dem's will say no way.

Five Observations

 1.  You starting to notice 14,000 models of hurricane movement?  It seems like every single weather guy has his/her own modeling crap.  

2.  Iran says....they have super-secret voice recordings of Trump....begging for peace.  AI-productions?  Probably.  But this would only get Trump hyped-up....to produce AI-productions of the Mullahs on drugs, talking BS, or chatty over gay-stuff.

3.  Single day admission to Disney-World?  $229....per adult....per day.  Toss in food/beverages....probably another $150 for the day.  What couple would go and spend that kind of money?

4.  If the Ala-Geo football game is played on Saturday?  Based on wind....it's a runner's game.

5.  There's roughly 1.1 residents in America....listed under ObamaCare programs....without social security numbers.  The gov't here in 2026....eliminated the group deal.

Poverty-Enthusiasts

 Over the past ten years, I've come to notice a fair number of politicians/activists/propagandists....who openly brag in some way of having grown up in poverty (sometimes trying to give you the impression of ultra-poverty (if there was such a thing)).  

My German wife reached a point last year...where she suggested I was overly-chatty on growing up in Alabama (1960s/1970s) poverty.

Popular hype now?  I would imagine that thirty-percent of Americans...over the age of fifty....claim some type of poverty.  Some elements might be true.....but it's about half-way fraudulent in nature.

People who bought coffee in the 1970s...probably paid a quarter at best....while today, they stop at some premium shop to pay $4.75 for a XXL-cup of marginal premium coffee.  

Some people will relate how they used to go to the theater....with $7 to get a ticket, medium-Coke, and small pop-corn....while today, they pay around $25 for the same experience.

Some former military folks will openly brag of the days at the enlisted club....$1-pitchers-of-beer on Friday after work....while the same pitcher today....would be $5.99. 

This all brings me to wonder.....the folks who grew in the 1920s/1930s....were they ultra-ultra poverty enthusiasts?

Q-and-A

 1.  Are Alabamians aware that the northern quarter of the state is part of Appalachia?  

It's one of the 300,000 facts they were told at some point about....but most don't give a damn.  It's not like something they brag about.

2.  Is there any possibility that from among these 300-odd data-centers across the globe being planned/built....that aliens may have a cable or two leading in, and planting accidental discoveries for humans to find?

Well....you know....some PhD folks probably wonder about data and if maybe is just a 'cover' for the aliens.

3.  Any truth to the idea that Iran is hoping for a big Democratic win in November to halt Trump's evil plans?

Shockingly....Demo's are seen as a 'hero' to the Mullahs.  

4.  Somalian gangs in the US....possibly triggering 'warfare'?

Minnesota-wise.....if you polled locals....I'm guessing near 50-percent of adults wonder about this.

5.  Any chance of a mental disease...if you are overly concerned about toilet-paper-being-over, or toilet-paper-being-under?

If it matters to you....you probably have TPDS (toilet-paper derangement syndrome).

6.  If the Census folks fail to count the 18-million non-Americans.....is it a big deal?

If you follow the news via CNN or NPR....it's doom-and-despair.  

7.  France riots?

I follow this daily....probably 60 minutes of observations, and have come to realize.....it's mostly a third-world tribalism rage.....against French civilization.  When they do interview with the riot folks....they seem to be mostly 12-year-old mentality.

8.  With all the hype over gender-BS....can't there be a crowd who wants fake intellectual transformation....where you have a IQ-index of 60 to 80, and have some fake way of convincing people you are 100 to 120?

To be honest, since the 1990s, I think there's a trans-intellectual movement going on....where people have some fake college BS (maybe even PhD-level fakeness), and they simply want you to buy off on this fake-Elon type of reality.

9.  Tennessee considering other execution options?

Well....if you follow the Pike episode....yeah, Republicans in the state want a perfect method of execution in the future.  Personally.....hanging is about as perfect as you can go.

10.  Chris Christie still trying to compare himself to 1980's Ronald Reagan?

Yeah....a sort of 50-50 Reagan-Clinton type character from NJ.  Out of a 100 Republican group....maybe three buy into his BS.  

Texas Chatter

 This past week, some fed-judge ordered by the end of 2029.....Texas state prisons must provide air conditioning for the prisons.

I paused over this.

He doesn't say who pays for it....nor how the monthly electrical cost will be covered.  The structures geared to 'add' AC?  I would imagine just a survey would require 12 months minimum.  

Forty-nine other states?  Not required (yet).

Where this came from?  Well....from 2023 to 2025....there's nine inmates who got dehydrated and passed away.  If you went back to 2000?  There's probably forty additional folks.

Electrical bills doubling (minimum) for the prison system?  I would imagine so.